This morning Diane Tracy, Shannon McNeil, Anna Fasoli, and I went to one of the restoration sites along the Lower Colorado near Blythe, CA to try and capture the mate of one of our radio tagged cuckoo, TGB. TGB's mate has not been captured so we dont have any information or samples from it. By 6:30 we had the net set up near the recently fledged nest and a cuckoo was nearby calling. We started calling back with various recordings including contact calls, alarm calls, juvenile calls, and cuckoo "screams". The cuckoo was very interested and kept coming in close to the net but would then fly farther away, only to come back in close a few minutes later. This went on for a while before finally, the cuckoo flew into the net. We ran over, only to find out that we had recaptured TGB....at least this gave us an opportunity to weigh the bird again, and take a few more pieces of data along with more pictures. TGB was first captured on June 24th.
Here is Anna and Shannon extracting TGB from the net. (photo by Alex Lamoreaux)
TGB's head profile, right side. (photo by Alex Lamoreaux)
TGB's head profile, straight on. (photo by Alex Lamoreaux)
TGB (photo by Alex Lamoreaux)
Underside of TGB's wing. (photo by Alex Lamoreaux)
For more photos by Alex Lamoreaux of cuckoos from this season, visit this Picasa Web Album.
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